Mountain GOAT: Marie-France Roy, The Backcountry Benchmark

Originally published in the 30th Anniversary Issue of SNOWBOARDER Magazine, Mountain GOATS celebrates the most influential snowboarders of the last thirty years (1987-2017), otherwise known as the Greatest Of All Time list. With over 70 men and women riding into the ranks of the Mountain GOATS, check back as we release their bios and celebrated accolades over the course of the next few weeks!

Mountain Goat: Marie-France Roy

In 2008, snowboarding was introduced to Marie-France Roy when she released a video part in Rome Snowboards' seminal team film, The Shred Remains, that nearly ten years later remains a benchmark segment.

Marie's explosive riding earned her immediate esteem and Rider of the Year recognition—a list she has been counted on four times—the first wave of many accolades for this snowboarding savant. But while Marie first turned heads as the Quebecois heiress to the street chops bred within her native province, a move west to Whistler opened up a myriad of mountains, which quickly became apparent as the terrain she loved and belonged in.

Marie is a veritable queen of the backcountry, possessing an ability to pick apart complex lines and point it through untracked powder in a way loaded with power and grace—traits she brought to 2016's Full Moon film. But while this humble rider spends most of her winter destroying alpine lines, she's equally concerned about protecting the terrain she loves as a vocal spokesperson for Protect Our Winters and active conservationist. In 2014, Marie took her season into her own hands to make The Little Things, a movie that featured her, Jeremy Jones, Tamo Campos and other world-class snowboarders intent on making the earth a better place through environmentally sustainable choices. While her riding remains paramount, The Little Things further solidified Marie as a snowboarder who is dutifully on the frontlines of conservation, ensuring there's plenty of untracked ones in her future, as well as ours.